Within the 2024 Zegama-Aizkorri Marathon, each a race rookie and a race veteran ended up on the rostrum’s high step. Within the ladies’s race, Sylvia Nordskar (Norway) dominated from the midway level to take her first win within the occasion, and Kilian Jornet (Spain, lives in Norway) led from the beginning within the males’s race to take his eleventh win out of 12 begins.
Beginning at 9 a.m. native time on Sunday, Could 26, the 42-kilometer race traversed rugged terrain throughout Basque Nation, Spain, with greater than 2,700 meters of climbing on technical terrain. It’s the third occasion within the Golden Path World Sequence, following up on races in China and Japan again in April. The route climbs the 4 of the very best peaks in Basque Nation and is infamous for its adversarial climate circumstances. Fortunately, this yr’s begin was good, with minimal wind and fewer mud on target than in some years.
Sylvia Nordskar on her option to her first win of the Zegama Marathon, through the 2024 version. Picture: Zegama Marathon/Roger Salanova
Within the ladies’s race, the highest 5 finishers from 2023 have been all again once more, with final yr’s winner Daniela Oemus (Germany) seeking to repeat. Becoming a member of these 5 have been rising star and first-timer Lide Urrestarazu (Spain) and 2022 third-place finisher Sara Alonso (Spain). Basque Nation native Malen Osa was additionally seeking to combine it up on the entrance of the sector.
With Jornet lining up for his twelfth Zegama after 10 prior wins, together with a course file of three:36:40 set in 2022, it could have been arduous to guess towards him. Nevertheless, there have been a number of others seeking to take the title, together with final yr’s winner Manuel Merrilas (Spain) and Jornet’s NNormal teammate Elhousine Elazzaoui (Morocco), who positioned second final yr.
However within the phrases of Jornet, “Zegama is Zegama,” and something can occur on race day, so learn on for the total race report.
2024 Zegama Marathon Ladies’s Race
The ladies’s race was set to be an thrilling one with so many high ladies returning for one more go on the course. The USA’s Dani Moreno took the lead from the road. At about eight kilometers into the race, she was joined by Switzerland’s Theres Leboeuf, who got here third on the first cease of the Golden Path World Sequence, the Kobe Path in Japan, and Sylvia Nordskar from Norway.
It was extraordinarily tight within the first a part of the ladies’s race, with the highest 5, which included Bailey Kowalczyk from the USA and Lide Urrestarazu of Spain, staying inside a minute of one another.
Marta Martínez improved upon her eighth place final yr to take third on the 2024 Zegama Marathon. Picture: Zegama Marathon/Igor Quijano
Round 13 kilometers, Nordskar overtook Leboeuf for the lead and continued to carry this place as much as the infamous Sancti Spiritu climb. Behind them, Urrestarazu crept additional up the leaderboard with every passing kilometer, working her approach into second at Sancti Spiritu, two minutes behind Nordskar and a minute forward of Marta Martínez of Spain.
Nordskar went from power to power on the entrance, rising her lead over the remainder of the sector while the combat for second place continued within the race’s second half. After a reasonably conservative begin, Basque Nation native Malen Osa began shifting up within the latter kilometers of the course. The teenager completed fourth within the 2023 Golden Path World Sequence and needed to make her mark in her residence race.
By 26 kilometers in, she’d labored her approach into second, simply over 4 minutes behind the chief. Martínez trailed her in third, whereas Urrestarazu began to fade within the second half. After ending 18th on the Zegama Marathon in 2022 and fourth in 2023, Nordskar crossed the end line victorious in 4:29:12. Shut behind her, Osa held onto second in 4:35:19, adopted simply 30 seconds later by Martínez in 4:35:39.
Leboeuf fought her approach again to fourth in 4:36:16, overtaking Urrestarazu, who completed in 4:37:20.
Malen Osa, who hails from Basque Nation, was a fan favourite on the 2024 Zegama Marathon. Right here, she ascends the well-known Sancti Spiritu climb amongst the 1000’s of followers gathered. Picture: Zegama Marathon/Igor Quijano
2024 Zegama Marathon Ladies’s Outcomes
- Sylvia Nordskar (Norway) – 4:29:12
- Malen Osa (Spain) – 4:35:19
- Marta Martínez (Spain) – 4:35:39
- Theres Leboeuf (Switzerland) – 4:36:16
- Lide Urrestarazu (Spain) – 4:37:20
- Elisa Desco (Italy) – 4:40:28
- Daniela Oemus (Germany) – 4:41:21
- Rosa Lara (Spain) – 4:42:54
- Ida Robsahm (Norway) – 4:44:31
- Caitlin Fielder (New Zealand) – 4:46:02
[Editor’s Note: From 2010 to 2012, Elisa Desco served a two-year doping ban from the IAAF after she tested positive for EPO at the 2009 World Mountain Running Championships.]
The highest 5 ladies of the 2024 Zegama Marathon (l-to-r): 4. Theres Leboeuf, 2. Malen Osa, 1. Sylvia Nordskar, 3. Marta Martínez, and 5. Lide Urrestarazu. Picture: Zegama Marathon/Roger Salanova
2024 Zegama Marathon Males’s Race
From the primary climb of the race, Spain’s Kilian Jornet (Spain, lives in Norway) l took the lead, trying able to take his eleventh Zegama Marathon title. Simply eight kilometers in, he’d already created almost a minute hole over Kevin Kibet and Robert Pkemoi Matayango, each from Kenya. Jornet’s teammate, Elhousine Elazzaoui of Morocco, wasn’t far behind the highest three.
Because the race continued upward, Jornet pushed to extend the hole between himself and the remainder of the sector.
Kilian Jornet on his option to profitable the 2024 Zegama Marathon, his eleventh victory on the race. Picture: Zegama Marathon/Igor Quijano
By the incline on the infamous Sancti Spiritu, the place the crowds didn’t disappoint, Jornet had a three-minute lead on Kibet, and it appeared as if he have been on tempo to beat his personal course file of three:36:40, which he set in 2022. Pkemoi Matayango stayed shut in third, with Elazzaoui trailing in fourth 20 kilometers into the race.
Nevertheless, Kibet appeared to wrestle with the tough terrain after Sancti Spiritu. Whereas he completed third at Sierre-Zinal in 2023, his path racing expertise is comparatively restricted. His fellow Kenyan Pkemoi Matayango additionally misplaced locations within the latter half of the course.
Poland’s Bartłomiej Przedwojewski and Elazzaoui used this technical, rocky path to combat their approach into the second and third place, the place they’d leapfrog with one another for the rest of the race. Behind the highest three, profiting from the fading Kenyans, Italy’s Luca Del Pero additionally labored his approach ahead within the standings.
Final yr’s winner, Manuel Merillas of Spain, began extra conservatively however slowly edged his approach towards the entrance finish of the group, utilizing the steep technical terrain to his benefit.
Bartłomiej Przedwojewski trying recent after taking second on the 2024 Zegama Marathon. Picture: Zegama Marathon/Roger Salanova
Jornet pushed within the ultimate 10 kilometers in an effort to set one other new course file, however abdomen issues slowed him down towards the tip. Nonetheless, he took a unbelievable win, crossing the road in 3:38:07. Elazzaoui completed second in 3:46:16 and Przedwojewski in third with a time of three:46:54.
Del Pero improved on his thirteenth place end on the Zegama Marathon final yr with fourth and a time of three:47:25, simply edging out Merillas, who got here residence in fifth in 3:47:42.
2024 Zegama Marathon Males’s Outcomes
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- Kilian Jornet (Spain, lives in Norway) – 3:38:07
- Elhousine Elazzaoui (Morocco) – 3:46:16
- Bartłomiej Przedwojewski (Poland) – 3:46:54
- Luca Del Pero (Italy) – 3:47:25
- Manuel Merillas (Spain) – 3:47:42
- Robert Pkemoi Matayango (Kenya) – 3:50:02
- Marcin Kubica (Poland) – 3:53:24
- Alain Santamaría (Spain) – 3:54:11
- Loïc Robert (France) – 3:55:52
- Léonard Mitrica (Romania) – 3:56:28
The highest 5 males of the 2024 Zegama Marathon (l-to-r): 4. Luca Del Pero, 2. Elhousine Elazzaoui, 1. Kilian Jornet, 3. Bartłomiej Przedwojewski, and 5. Manuel Merillas (along with his canine Zar). Picture: Zegama Marathon/Roger Salanova
